You're not the only one confused. Several times, while enjoying a coffee parked in the station parking lot, I've redirected commuters that are new to the system to the franklin branch platform. As far as I know, since the Southwest Corridor rebuild of the 80's, no trains have made scheduled stops on those Platforms.

I was there Monday railfanning and someone was standing on the inbound NEC platform waiting for a train that would never stop. I told him that the next inbound was gonna be on the fairmount line. What's the purpose of the platforms and why are they still there?

The NEC platforms are great for train spotting, there's no doubt about it. It's nice that the southbound signals are right there as well so u know if something's coming ur way. Just seems odd, the platforms are for a train that will never stop

MBTA1016 wrote:I was there Monday railfanning and someone was standing on the inbound NEC platform waiting for a train that would never stop. I told him that the next inbound was gonna be on the fairmount line. What's the purpose of the platforms and why are they still there?

Are there any signs saying there's no service on the NEC platforms?

For that matter, how do inexperienced passengers figure out whether to wait on the Franklin or Fairmount platform?

MBTA1016 wrote:I was there Monday railfanning and someone was standing on the inbound NEC platform waiting for a train that would never stop. I told him that the next inbound was gonna be on the fairmount line. What's the purpose of the platforms and why are they still there?

Are there any signs saying there's no service on the NEC platforms?

For that matter, how do inexperienced passengers figure out whether to wait on the Franklin or Fairmount platform?

by word of mouth. There are still signs on Trk 3 that state "Platform to Attleboro" As for why these platforms are here, an Oldtimer with lots of wisdom holds the answer. I'll try to find out in the meantime. When the Trk 3 Tie project was done about 10 years ago now, between just West of Forest Hills and READ interlocking, trains were skipping Hyde Park and stopping at Readville for service. As for most recent service on these NEC platforms in question, that came when the marshes were on fire just north of the RTE 128 station, about 2 years ago now. Trains offloaded for busing purposes

There are no signs saying no service. And yes there are signs that say outbound to Attleboro or something similar. I personally find them useful to keep an eye on the corridor for railfanning. It's fun and ur by urself but the fact they are used strikes me as odd.

Yesterday I railfanned at readville and someone was waiting on the NEC platform for a train. I told him where the trains stop and luckily for him there was a fairmount line train sitting in the station. He did say "why don't they have signs that say so"(he was talking about the NEC platforms etc. They really dhould have signs on the NEC platforms

MBTA1016 wrote:Yesterday I railfanned at readville and someone was waiting on the NEC platform for a train. I told him where the trains stop and luckily for him there was a fairmount line train sitting in the station. He did say "why don't they have signs that say so"(he was talking about the NEC platforms etc. They really dhould have signs on the NEC platforms